Trip to see Norman Rockwell Prints and dioramas.

Mommy and daddy took a little trip of their own to celebrate Daddy's birthday. We both wanted to see the Norman Rockwell collection that was at the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus, OH. What a special treat it was too. We got to see over 200+ prints of the Saturday Evening Post cover pages that Rockwell painted. There were also several displays of his artwork turned into life size recreations. It was a really special time to enjoy one of our favorite Americana artists and getting to know a little more about his life and work.

Maple Sugar Festival at Malabar Farm

On March 15, 2009, we took our family out to Malabar Farm, a local attraction that was once the home of Louis Bromfield. Every year they host a Maple Sugar Festival where they explain the rich heritage of Maple Syrup and Maple Sugar. Hannah and Luke really enjoyed the opportunity to get out for a day after being cooped up most of the winter.

We saw many trees with buckets and some with special tubing to collect the liquid nectar from the trees. Hannah was pretty fascinated with these trees, but then we got to learn how the Native Americans use to collect the syrup prior to the White Settlers who came into the area. We learned some interesting facts about it including that the average life expectancy of Indians was only 35 years of age.

It seems that they used a hollowed out log to put all the tree sap into and then used heated rocks to bring the sap to a boil. It was pretty neat to see how it all worked, but then he explained that this process helped to shorten the life of the Native Americans. The rock particles and ash would get into the syrup and sugar and grind the teeth down.

Once their teeth were ground down to nibs, it would allow germs and other bacteria to cause tooth decay and gum diseases. This in turn led to some pretty sick people with the leading cause of death, infected gums and teeth.

Here we saw several re-enactors portraying several types of sugar camps that they used. Once the white men came, they brought metal pans to boil the sap into syrup. What a huge difference this made and Hannah even got to go into a live operating modern sugar shack. The kids really enjoyed the free samples as well.

Did I mention that we also got some maple fudge and maple sugar? Yum! Unfortunately those did not last very long. The good news is that we did buy some fresh syrup. It has been a real treat on our pancakes since then.

Mama's got a new car

Introducing my new car, Max. I have waited 12 years for a new car and am so exciting. The kids love it and have plenty of room.

Easter time in Rochester, NY

One of our favorite things to do is visit with Grandma and Papa, especially for the holidays. Here we have a nice picture of the family. The kids with their spoils from the Easter Egg Hunt and playtime with Grandma. Life is good when we celebrate the true meaning of Resurection Sunday with family and friends.

Looking for Fun and Feeling Groovy

The Ross household keeps moving onward. The children are growing much faster than can be measured and life lessons are hitting home. The children have been on the challenging end of the spectrum the last week. I wonder to myself what is causing this. Is it just childish testing of limits or something more. Luke especially seems to be having a hard time of it. More and more he is exerting his opinions and thoughts on things. He is also very demanding of our attention, NOW. His sweet nature has been buried at this time and while waiting for it to resurface, we must stay the course of balancing rules and relationships. I'm sure God feels the same way about me often times, I'm glad he gives me some line while still holding me firm. He won't let me go, He loves me to much. That is why we persist to discipline Luke, we love him to much to leave him in his disobedient state.

Hannah on the other hand, mostly has no teeth. I believe that there are a total of 5 missing at this point. She looks adorable biting from the side of her mouth. Her reading is much improved and I think that she is actually liking it now. She is still resistant to school some days, but does well at everything. I keep reminding myself that her strong will is going to serve her well when she is older. She has a tenacity about her that will keep her strongly attached to her moral beliefs and to what she has been taught. Although she learns things the hard way, once she knows what is true and right, she never doubts again.

Our fish have afforded us many moments of laughter and stress. Hollar, Luke's fish, has lost his stripes (his racing stripes as Luke would say). Luke is disappointed and rightly so. How will he race against other fish now? He looks so plain and ordinary. Wendy on the other hand (Hannah's fish) has medical problems. Last week she was floating a lot, on her side and even swimming upside down. We were concerned about her health and began to prepare Hannah for the facts of life concern the lifespan of store bought fish. However, in an attempt to save Wendy, we called the fish store and learned that she was being overfed and was likely constipated. On their advice, we gave her some lettuce. She straightened right up but we have found that she needs a little lettuce everyday. Who knew that constipation amongst fish was such a problem? Certainly not I.

I have looked at my crazy family and know I have much to be thankful for. I am loved and so are they. We have food, clothes and a house. We have friends and family, we have good health. Mostly though, we have a God that continually pours blessings on us whether we deserve them or not. It doesn't get any better than this.

1, 2, 3 missing teeth!

Well, I suppose it finally had to happen that Hannah would loose both of her upper teeth. But none of us expected her to loose a third tooth as well! Yup, here we see our happy little girl missing 1, 2, 3 teeth! You can barely see one of her new teeth coming in. Needless to say, she is very cute when she talks and gives us a lot o "gums" these days.

It also amazes me how a few months can change her attitude towards school and in particular reading. She has started doing so much better now. She doesn't struggle with some of her basic words near as much as she used to. Plus she is getting quicker. We used to have to drag her while she was "kicking and screeming" about not wanting to read. Much to the consternation for the rest of us, we kept getting very frustrated over this, including her. But after a little hiatus from the reading routine, she is finally starting to catch up.

Today she went for her yearly checkup with Mommy. Afterwards, her and mommy went to someplace special. Andrea promissed her an oppotunity to either go out for lunch before her check-up or to go out for ice cream. You guessed it, Hannah still has a sweet tooth somewhere so they went to ColdStones! Yum....do you think they would bring the boys back anything? Not a chance. I guess I will have to wait until Luke grows up a little more to do some of those things with him.

Luke is doing well and will be going for his yearly Craniofacial clinic in a few weeks. He continues to amaze us with his speach and actions. He is such a fun little guy. He loves to "tackle" and "tickle" on our bed. He is such a boy! Hannah, while liking to do those things as well, still remains a sweet girl and pretty mellow compared to Lukie. Luke though seems to be an endless bundle of energy that never seems to run out. He is also fearless and willing to try just about anything at this point. The only thing he truly fears is being disciplined. He hates to break our hearts or to get into trouble. Well, that is enough for now. Blessings and thanks for checking up on us.

John aka Papa Eagle.

New Family Members

Today we welcomed two new additions to our family, Wendy and Hollar, the goldfish. After much begging from the children we gave in and bought them fish. Hopefully the cats won't find out they are here. Hannah's is the all gold one named Wendy and Luke's has the brown racing stripe. Why he named him Hollar I'll never know. They did spend a lot of time watching them today. Luke's only real remark about them was that they don't look happy. He said they need smiles to be happy. Oh, from the mouths of babes. Exercising a little smiling would make all of us happier people wouldn't it? Just something to think about.

A Pretend Wedding

A few days ago we all celebrated the pretend marriage of Hannah Ross and Peter the Pan (again). Here you see Luke walking Hannah down the aisle. Hannah made her own flowers and other decorations. We even had a little reception with pretend food. Kids are so much fun!

January Happenings

A visit from Nana, GeGe and cousin Addison sure did brighten a short cold January day. As you can see, Luke has taken quite a liking to Addi. In fact he loves all of his cousins and talks about them regularly as he looks at their pictures. He is very apt to pick one of them as his invisible playmate and tells new people he meets that he has cousins.

We have also had a lot of snow and very cold temperatures this January. The kids have had only a few chances to play outside because of the extreme cold but really enjoy it. They both had their first taste of snow and thought that it tasted wonderful.
In other happenings, Hannah is continuing with Kindergarten and is almost done. She has really become a whiz at math and her reading is coming a long much better. Luke likes to join us with school and has learned his alphabet and can count to 12. It is hard to believe how much they are growing.

Family Christmas

We did have a wonderful Christmas season enjoying special time with all of our families. Here the kids are spending time with Papa watching the train. The kids got so many fun presents and they are still having a lot of fun playing with them. John and the children enjoyed a beautiful and inspiring Christmas eve service. I had to work but was glad to get out early. We are thankful for all of the presents and most of all God's gift of his Son.

Christmas time is here...

It's the most wonderful time of the year. We had fun last week decorating the house into a wintry wonderland. The weather outside has been frightful with much more snow than we usually get this time of year. We've enjoyed some silent nights listening to Christmas music and looking at the tree. Of course with only a few more than 12 days before Christmas we are bustling to get all the shopping done. We have hung the stockings by the chimney with care and have visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads. The kids have been asking for a hippopotamus for Christmas but I think that they will have to be content with their two front teeth. Away in our manager is Jesus on whom we really try to concentrate this time of year. It was in the little town of Bethlehem where a lowly and holy infant was born that changed our world forever. This Christmas take time to come and adore Him. He has given us great joy. It is the birthday of our king who gave his life to redeem us and bring us to heaven, to teach us about grace and love. One small child, isn't it amazing?

So, we wish you a Merry Christmas, A White Christmas, that you'll be home for Christmas and that Three Kings will visit you with gifts.

A new bathroom

Okay, now many of you, having not seen the old bathroom, can not truly relate to the euphoria at having the bathroom finally finished. We have been in the process of remodeling it since February but it was worth the wait. We are very proud of it and are very thankful to friends and fathers who helped get it done. It is now nice and not falling apart and relects our style a little more.

Young artists

A little out of date presently however, the kids did have a lot of fun decorating pumpkins this year. It was the first time they have done it and because I'm a little shy about pre-schoolers and knives, we decided painting was the way to go. Overall we had fun, even mommy decorated one. We had a beautiful fall here, very warm until late October.

Luke swinging and Hannah at school

Luke just recently learned how to swing! He climbed on the other day and asked Hannah to push him. By this age, Hannah was still afraid to try it for a long time. But Luke the fearless climbed up and wanted to swing like a "big kid." I can't believe how much he has grown. He is all boy! He loves to climb, run, swing, play rough, and especially loves to play tackle with daddy.


Hannah is really starting to do better now with school. She still whines about doing some things, like reading and math, but when it comes right down to it, she is really starting to catch on. We are over half way in her kindergarten year of homeschooling. We go about 4 days a week now.

In the next few pictures, Hannah was doing a science experiment with different sizes of straws and making a flute. Her and Luke both had fun playing around with it.


Perhaps one of the better surprises yesterday was how well she was reading her "Dick and Jane" book. Mommy and I bought this book several years ago as a novelty because we both learned to read with it. Now, after many frustrating hours of "reading" with Hannah, she is getting it. Here she is reading to mommy and Luke. She was laughing at "Baby," one of the characters in the book. Isn't life grand with your family? These are the moments we all cherish with each other.

Luke turns 3 and a trip to the Cleveland Zoo

It is so hard to believe that in a few days Luke will be three! He has already been through so much and has come so far along with his cleft lip and palette. His speach continues to amaze us all the time.

Here is a picture of his favorite character, Thomas the very useful train. Luke loves watching Thomas and anything that has to do with cars, trucks, machines, or your typical "boy" stuff. He is certainly all boy!

We asked Luke what he wanted to do for his birthday. He said he wanted to go see the animals. So we went to the Cleveland Zoo. Despite some of the construction going on up there, it was a fairly pleasant day and very few people around. We didn't have any problems seeing the animals at all. In fact, most of them were out in plain sight. Usually we go when it is a hot day and the animals are trying to stay in the shade or in their hiding spots, but not this time.

Both kids really had a lot of fun. They were so excited the night before that they hardly slept, we almost decided not to go. But in the end we did and had a lot of fun. The best part of the trip was the drive back home. Both kids fell asleep shortly after we left, and well, daddy fell asleep the quickest. Poor mommy had to drive us all home and still stay awake herself. God was with us.

In the second picture Luke is being all "cool" like riding on daddy's shoulders. This is one of his favorite positions once he is up there. He perches and looks around.

The bottom two pictures are of Hannah and Luke climbing on some artificial termite mounds from the Australia area of the zoo.

The only dissappointing thing about the trip was that Hannah never got to see any elephants. It appears that they are completely redoing the pacaderm building by tearing it down, which they were in the process of doing while we were there. By the time it is done in 2011, it will be 4 times the old size and able to have more elephants as well.

On a personal note, I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much lately, but hopefully now that things are finally getting settled down, I will be able to do more. Blessings to all of you. Papa Eagle. (John)

Luke's love of living dagerously....

Okay, for those of you with children, you know there is a huge difference in the way boys and girls act and behave. Our dear children are no different. This past week, our son, Luke, truly caught on to the act of sitting properly on the swing in our backyard. He now sits like a "big boy." When our daughter started swinging, she wasn't too sure about it at first and hated going very high, especially after a few falls on the hard ground below.

Our son? Not a chance! He is already saying "Higher daddy, higher!" The boy has no fear. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing at this point. The only thing he fears is a spanking, or so it seems. (We don't typically spank him very often at all, unless he has just pulled his sister's hair or bitten her arm.) So when we threaten him with a spanking, that is usually all it takes to straighten him out. Or at least while I, daddy, am around.

Mommy on the other hand has a harder time with him. He just doesn't seem to want to listen. Now far be it from me to admit this, but I think it is a "guy" thing showing up already at an early age. After all, do we as men really and truly listen to our wives like we should? Do little boys listen to their mommies? I think this is one of the hardest lessons we could ever learn in marriage and parenting. It isn't until something goes wrong that little boys come running to their mommy's arms for the love and support that we all need. Forget daddy, mommy is a much better hugger and snuggler when little boys are sick or hurt. But when it comes to doing crazy stunts, the boys always seem to "show" off for their daddies and long for their attention.

So what does that say about our Heavenly Father? Are we willing to really listen to His voice prompting us to follow Him in our hearts? or are we often times like husbands and little boys pretending to listen, but not really hearing the common sense God gave to our wives and mothers in sharing with us. That is why we need to really listen, to really hear what God whispers in our hearts and minds as we journey through life. We need to yield to God everyday, not just when we get hurt, but before we get hurt so we don't have to suffer the pain and consequences of disobedience. Life is too busy and so full of ways to distract us from our true purpose here on Earth. Are we really listening? Are we really hearing God's voice calling us to obedience? Or do we blow it all off until we get hurt by some of life's unfortunate and often cruel dealings.

So how do we really hear and listen to God's voice? We study His word, the Holy Bible. It isn't a series of many books that have no relevance for today's life. It isn't old fashioned or obsolete? Not at all. It is life and hope in a dark and weary world. It is the difference of facing the world full of energy like a little child versus being fearful of all the bad news we are constantly being bombarded with. The more I read and study the Bible, the more I am amazed at God's perfect love for all of us.

Not long ago at the Christian school I work for, all of the middle schoolers were pulled into a large room and shown a video byLouie Giglio. "How Great is our God." (You can see a portion of it on youtube.com or godtube.com) This video showed the Greatness of God and how we were created, not evolved, by a loving God. How do I know this? Maybe instead of telling you, you should check out the above video for yourselves and look up "Laminin." Perhaps one of the most phenomenal videos I have ever seen. Laminin is the protein adhesion molecule that literally holds our bodies together. It is found in everything we were created to for. God holds us together, from the beginning of time with this tiny protein that would make many evolutionist cringe in their seats, because there is no denying that our bodies, our earth, our universe was fearfully and wonderfully made to "listen and hear" about God's great love for all of us "sinners."

And the Beat Goes On...

Well, school has started at the Ross household and summer things are winding down. John is enjoying his new position at the Christian school as computer teacher along with the 5 on-line courses he teaches. Needless to say, he is very busy (not to mention he is Jr-high youth leader and Adult Bible Fellowship leader).

Hannah is getting back in the school groove better than I thought. We did some school off and on over the summer so it wasn't a complete shock. She loves to learn certain things but still doesn't like to have to work to hard at anything one thing. She also started back at gymnastics and is on the big equipment now learning "big girl" moves (as she calls them).

Luke is potty trained, I could shout it from the mountain tops. I am very proud of him and it was very painless. He is a smart and growing boy. Lately his favorite thing to say to me is, "Mama, you're my best friend." It doesn't get any better than that.

My washing machine broke today in the middle of the first of 5 loads of laundry, this with company coming. I got a little bent out of shape and then God reminded me of something. I need to learn the difference between an inconvenience and a tragedy. I am ashamed to say I acted as if it was a tragedy. I am thankful though to be forgiven and to learn.

Camping Out

We recently enjoyed a wonderful camping trip to the Hocking Hills in southern Ohio. We had great weather and the different sights we saw were breath taking. We did a lot of hiking and playing, as well as bonding as a family.

In other news, we are gearing up for the school year again. Not only in continuing kindergarten with Hannah but John will also be teaching at a local Christian school this fall. He is excited and we are getting his class room and such ready. Hard to believe that it is almost back to school time.

We are thankful to God for the new job and the wonderful vacation. To think that H made all of those beautiful mountains and caves just for us to enjoy.